AP HEADLINE is out: Clinton Accuses Rivals of Mud-Slinging

[Bluebear]

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Under pressure in a feisty debate, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton accused her closest rivals Thursday night of slinging mud "right out of the Republican playbook" and leveled her sharpest criticism of the campaign at their records.

"People are not attacking me because I'm a woman, they're attacking me because I'm ahead," Clinton said, striving to protect her standing as front-runner in an increasingly competitive nominating campaign.

"What the American people are looking for right now is straight answers to tough questions, and that is not what we have seen from Senator Clinton on a host of issues," said Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois in the opening moments of a debate seven weeks before the first contest of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

"There's nothing personal about this," said former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, who joined Obama in bluntly accusing Clinton of forever switching positions on Social Security, driver's licenses for illegal immigrants and other issues, turning aside the suggestion that she was seeking to hide her positions. Long an advocate of universal health care, she said Obama's current proposal leaves millions uncovered and that Edwards did not support health care for all when he first ran for president in 2004.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DEMOCRATS_DEBATE?SITE=NVLAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[aquart]

1. Gosh, that media loves Hillary.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

2. The AP really hates Clinton (they hate all Dems, but that's a BS headline)

[papau]

8. AP's Beth Fouhy's headline writer's a Dem basher whose "reporting" needs an "Editorial" label n/t

n/t

[BenDavid]

3. HRC is exactly right. This notion she is somehow playing

the gender card is right out of the RNC. She said it right, "People are not attacking me because I'm a woman, they're attacking me because I'm ahead," When she had the exchange against Edwards and put him in his place and then when Obama tried to be cute by half and could not answer the simple yes or no answer to the drivers license question and rambled on with a 10,000 worded explanation then HRC chopped obama off at the knees when all she said was NO!

The same question that tripped up HRC in the last debate did the same to Obama this time. Folks this debate was over within the first 12 minutes because after HRC made her move against Obama ands Edwards the debate took on a different flavor and the tone was set and HRC was in control.

Good debate HRC. Very Good!

Ben David

[Bluebear]

4. Sorry, but I didn't see her "accusing" people of mud-slinging. This headline is bogus.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

6. It's a feeble continuation of the 'pile on' narrative that was not supported by any

reality in the debate. She was very un-whiny about it.

[dkf]

7. Come on. She backed off the "don't pick on me" thing after it

backfired.

Clinton supporters are so Bushy. Ugh.

[Yael]

5. Error noted -- "Long an advocate of universal health care"

That should read "Long an advocate of corporate, for-profit at the expense of the consumer health care"

[hijinx87]

9. the headline is misleading . . .

from an AP story that moved later, but under the headline, "Clinton
fires back sharply at Democratic rivals".

"When somebody starts throwing mud at least we can
hope it's accurate and not right out of the Republican playbook," Clinton
said after Edwards questioned whether she could restore trust in the White
House.

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1534008120071116?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&rpc=22&sp=true

I don't even think she used the term "mud slinging", and even this
response was after richardson did accuse other candidates of
mud slinging.

[Bluebear]

10. Exactly.